Howl
by Tikitookipok
Summary: With the position of leadership open, Eric seizes the opportunity while trying to deal with Zero's overpowering death. Lucky for him, Dauntless has a way of drinking their problems away and playing dangerous games to forget unpleasant things. Plus, he has a new batch of initiates to torture, and now Jeanine's plans hang over him. If only forgetting Experiment 01014 was that easy.
1. Chapter 1

_Experiment 01014 was released into Amity fields on March 1__st__, year 223 after city establishment. At age five, Experiment 01014 is able to locate divergents, and is equipped with the skills and abilities necessary to exterminate them without direct reflection of the city's hand. Experiment 01014 is a success._

_ She has been given the name Sam Cooper and will operate like all other citizens. She will go through the aptitude test and receive a finite result. Experiment 01014 will have no recollection of her past in Erudite._

Two pictures are attached at the bottom, of a small child with gold eyes and a bright smile, and the other of a small black puppy with the very same golden gaze. A small note is scribbled underneath it. _Year 234 she received and chose Dauntless, in year 235 she became a Dauntless leader._ Eric folds the paper and slips it back under his alarm clock. "Died in year 237," he murmurs, clicking off the light and laying back on the bed. He closes his eyes, aware of his own lonely breathing.

* * *

><p>She has to admit that out of all her lapses in judgment, this has to be her favorite. Teeth nibble along her throat, followed by hot kisses. With a grin she pushes off his jacket, letting it fall to the floor in a heap behind him. He pauses. She smirks as his grey eyes flick to hers, that all too familiar burning curiosity flashing in their depths.<p>

"Scared, initiate?"

Eric presses her into the wall and slides his hands up her shirt, biting and sucking on her neck. "Fuck, no," he whispers, thumbs gliding over her nipples. He returns to her mouth, slipping his tongue in, his piercings pressing into her lips. She suppresses a moan—she can't feed his ego. Parting from her briefly, he pulls her shirt over her head and drops it next to his jacket. "How can I be scared of a banjo-strumming softie?"

"Watch it, Four-Eyes," she bites back, coaxing his shirt onto the floor beside hers. "Don't insult your leader so freely."

"Like you'll do anything to me," he murmurs, thumb stroking her cheek as he leans in again. His eyes roam over her face, soft, kind. Uncharacteristic of the Eric everyone else knows, and someone she enjoys riling up.

"I'll set Four on you," she answers.

With a growl he rushes in, forcing her into a rough, dominating kiss. "Say his name again and I'll—,"

"Four's name?"

He presses her against the wall and tugs off her belt, throwing it down before unhooking the clasp of her bra. Her hands dart out to unbutton his pants, but he catches them and pins them above her head. A wicked smirk cracks across his face. "Are you going to lose a fight tonight, Zero? Am I going to have to start calling you One?"

"You wish," she growls, bringing up her feet and thrusting out. He stumbles back and she drops to the floor, laughing at his surprise. "What was that piece of advice I always told you? Keep your guard up?"

"Even during sex?" he asks sarcastically.

Zero stands and crosses over to him, wrapping her arms around his waist and leaning into him. She presses a soft kiss to his cheek, surprising him once again. "I don't think you'll need to." He folds his arms around her, smiles, and kisses her slowly, hands deepening the kiss in the dark of the apartment. When they pull apart she hooks her fingers into his pants and leads him to the bedroom. "Fuck, Eric. Rule-breaking shouldn't be this fun," she grumbles.

* * *

><p>The beeping cuts into his brain and forces him up. With a snarl he slams his fist down on the clock and curls over, breathing heavily. Why did he have to do that so damn often? Every other fucking night he would dream about her, every other fucking minute he would see something that reminded him of her. Every. Fucking. Day. And then he'd have to go watch Four moon over that Stiff at training.<p>

It hurt.

Running a hand through his long hair, he slips out of bed and pulls on a shirt. Jeanine needs to see him today. "Fuck me," he mumbles. The entire truth is that he'd rather watch Four and that Stiff initiate attempt to hide their growing relationship than meet with the Erudite leader, even if it meant being reminded of _her_.

Standing, he quickly goes through the motions of the morning routine before heading down to breakfast. A hush comes down over the Dauntless members nearby, but Eric ignores it today, hurt that all he can compare himself to today is Zero. The initiates are all eating, talking, laughing. Four's right next to them, like she would be. Except she'd be encouraging their banter. With tired eyes Eric glances over to where Max and Killian usually sit, where she should have sat everyday, but they're not there. Maybe he'll just take food to go. "Eric!" an all-too-cheerful voice greets.

"Morning, John."

The older Dauntless member slaps him on the back and points to a nearly empty table. "Come join us this morning."

"Sure." Even if he doesn't really want to talk to her friends, they sure seem hell-bent on talking to him. "Morning, Harrison," Eric greets after running through the breakfast line.

Harrison nods, munching on cereal.

John plops down beside them. "How are the initiates this year?"

"We'll need to watch out for that boy from Candor, Peter. I don't trust him," Eric says, taking a bite out of his eggs.

Harrison gives him a quizzical look. John immediately translates, "Doesn't Candor mean he's all about the truth?" Harrison nods, and not for the first time Eric wonders if this man is a mute or not. Has he ever heard him talk?

"That's the problem—he's good at lying."

John scratches his chin. Harrison shrugs, earning a nod from John. "I suppose you're right. After all, Zero's Amity didn't really—,"

At the sharp glare from Eric, John drops the conversation and turns to his oatmeal. Harrison taps the side of his plate with his spoon once, eyes far off and deep in thought. Somehow, God knows how, John catches on. "You're right! Isn't tonight the annual war games?"

That's right. Eric runs a hand through his hair and nods. "Yes." How could he forget that?

"Mind if we come along? Then we can see the initiates for ourselves."

"Of course. Pick your team."

"You, of course," John instantly replies. He gives Eric a kind smile. "This is like your best two out of three game, right? We have to be there to make sure you win!"

Eric lets out a chuckle. "Thanks." Behind them the initiates get up and exit the dining hall. "Better go."

"See you tonight, then," John says and winks.

Eric shakes his head and follows his pack of transfers, just close enough that they know he's there, watching them like ravenous wolf. Four stops walking, allowing them to brush past. He joins Eric, step for step down the hall. "Rankings will go up tomorrow."

"I know, Four."

He slows down, almost coming to a stop. Eric rolls his eyes and matches Four's pace, allowing the transfer initiates to walk out of earshot. "What do you think of rankings?"

"Edward's first, Peter's second."

"Peter's savage and—,"

"And Dauntless. We need savagery. How else can we hope to keep the restless Factionless down?"

"Savagery is not the answer!"

"Guided savagery is," Eric snaps. "We're done arguing about this—I am your leader." _Anyone that has to say "I am the king" is no king_, he hears her quote in his head. _Shut the fuck up,_ he snaps back. He doesn't need to be thinking about books or her. "You decide the rest of the rankings—except for Myra and Al. She's last, he's second to last. They're pathetic." Then he leaves Four behind, hurrying into the training room.

The initiates pick up on his foul mood and scuttle away. He leans against the wall and waits until Four appears to shout, "Stiff and Peter, in the ring!" Four's head snaps to Eric. Then he turns, catches Tris by the elbow and gives her a few hurried tips. Eric catches Peter's gaze. The transfer holds his chin up defiantly, and Eric rolls his eyes and looks away. "Time to fight."

But even as he watches the figures swim in detail before him, and he finds himself entrenched in the memory of watching Zero and Amar fight. They hadn't called her Zero for no reason—she never lost a fight. Tris didn't even compare to her—how could Four be in love with the Stiff? She couldn't even hold her own.

Point proven. A swift blow to the head and she's down for the count. Weakling. But he can see Four's obvious agitation in the way he sets his jaw and his eyes focus like knives on Peter. It's fucking irritating. "Take her to the infirmary," Eric allows, looking away to the side of the training room where older Dauntless members practice and train alone or with friends. John's over there with Harrison, and no doubt Amar would have been with them that morning. Growling, he stands up and shouts, "Christina and Will!" Let the couple beat each other up. Let them tear themselves apart.

The expression on their face is priceless. "Well?" Eric shouts.

They scurry into the ring, but neither move. "Come on," Peter taunts. "Let's see if you can punch as well as you talk, Candor."

Christina throws a punch, easily blocked by Will. "If you're going to play around, then you better get used to the idea of living factionless," Eric warns, grey eyes sparking dangerously. Don't think for a minute I'm not serious, he thinks. And they don't. He's hung them over the chasm made them beat each other into a bloody pulp, made them jump off a building. They'll listen to him out of sheer fear.

Zero would have earned respect from them.

"I'm not Zero," he whispers to himself.

Four appears, and his jaw goes slack at the sight of Christina and Will. Eric smirks. "What are you doing?" Four hisses.

"Training. What are you doing? You know, I bet if you asked her for her pants she'd willingly give them to you. No need for all of this roundabout shit."

"I'm not going to break the rules like you did," Four returns. Immediately his face drops and he turns away, ignoring Eric's fury.

"Do you want me to report you to Max? You're on thin ice, _Tobias_."

"Don't call me that. She never did. Amar never did, and Max doesn't."

"Well, I'm not any of them, am I?" He glares at the fighting pair. "Fucking knock her out!" he shouts at Will, who's hovering around Christina's fallen body. Instead, Christina rises up and pounds him in the stomach. "Nice move," he praises, waiting for the next retaliation. "And don't bring her up again," he tells Four. "You never told anyone about us, I won't tell anyone about you." Before Four can realize Eric's apparent kindness, the leader moves away to prowl around the ring.

"I'm not seeing any blood," he calls out. "Fix that."

Four folds his arms and watches them. Eric can tell he wants to interject, but doesn't dare, and it sends a little thrill through him. He has power. Will delivers a particularly savage blow to Christina's head and then reels back in disgust—he can't believe he did that. "Winner, Will," Eric announces. Christina stirs after a few seconds. Will helps her to her feet and they both exit the ring. "Al and Edward."

"Eric," Four says. Eric looks over, ready to argue again. "Why don't you go relax? I have everything under control here—we're going to have a long night and early morning."

Eric opens his mouth to snap back, but falters. Concern is written all over Four's face, much to Eric's chagrin, but he can't deny that he needs the rest. When was the last time he slept more than three hours? "Fine," is all he manages. Glancing away in shame he walks out of the training room. It's only 10:30, so half the compound is still asleep.

The Dauntless Leader finds his way to the chasm. He stares down, wondering what if felt like when Amar jumped. Or was thrown—Eric never found out. The memories of that night plague him still, even more so than his fight with Four the next day.

* * *

><p>"Amar is divergent," Max whispers to Zero. Eric shouldn't have heard, but he knew what to listen for, was wondering if he would hear the words. Now he did, but the shock crossing Zero's face didn't make him feel very triumphant. Max gives her a warning look, before leaning in and whispering something even quieter that Eric can't hear. Her gold gaze flicks over to him and then holds Max's. She inclines her head.<p>

"I'll see to it, sir," she affirms.

Eric keeps throwing his knives, pretending to be oblivious. But she saw him looking. She knows. Soon enough, he feels a hand catch his arm as he winds up to throw. "You're holding it a bit too tight," she tells him. He loosens his grip, allowing her to take the knife. "Try this." She taps his feet a bit farther apart and takes up a position behind him, using her hands to set the knife gently in his. "Place first finger here, second here, third…"

His heart beat elevates slightly as she closes her finger around his fist. Even though he's bigger than her, he can feel the power and fury pulsing under her skin. He swallows. "You have every right to be scared," she whispers. Then she winds back his arm. "See how this feels?" she asks, louder. Amar looks over, an eyebrow raised. "That's should be the extent of your… what do you call it, Amar? Backswing?"

"That's for golf, Zero."

"Ah, fuck it. This is as far back as you go," she tells him and releases her hold. "Go through the motions a few times and then actually throw it. You should see improvement." Eric complies, going through the motion, but keeping mind of the golden gaze boring into his back.

Amar dismisses them not long after, once they've all become comfortable with the knives. But Zero stops Eric with a hand. Amar looks to her, wondering if she needs help, but a simple shake of her head sends him on. He can recognize anger in her when he sees it—which has become more often of late.

"You reported Amar," she states.

Eric nods.

She sits down in front of him on the steps of the fighting ring, resting her face in her hands. "Why would you do that?" she mumbles. Shaking her head, she lifts her eyes and gives him a long, hard look. "Do you know what's going to happen now?"

Eric flinches. Her voice is soft, dangerously soft. "I don't," he croaks.

"No. I'm the Dauntless Leader that's never lost a fight. I'm the genetic experiment every damn person in Erudite seems to know so much about. When you reported Amar, that death sentence comes to me."

Eric gazes at her, a bit shocked. "They don't become factionless?"

She lets out a mirthless laugh. "No! They get killed! And guess who does that? The experiment with no other apparent purpose except to murder threats to our city. So now I have to kill Amar. He was my instructor. He's my friend."

Eric shifts, eyes glued to the floor. "What if you just don't kill him?"

"Then _you'll_ die. At least one initiate goes over the railing of the chasm every year, Max assures me. If you take the tumble no one will bat an eye."

His gaze darts up to hers, but instead of the ferocity he expects there's just pain and… exhaustion. She blows out a sigh. "And fuck me in the ass if I let you die," she murmurs. Eric finds himself struck by the words. Is it just because he's an initiate? Or maybe there's another meaning, another part of him hopes. Rubbing her eyes, she stands. "You know what I am, right? The "old world" name for it?"

Eric nods. But he doesn't want to say. She folds her arms and taps her foot, waiting patiently for the answer. "Werewolf," he finally mutters.

"Aren't they dangerous?"

"Inarguably so."

"So that means you better stay out of the hallways tonight. And stay away from me from now on."

Eric nods again, chest shrinking. "Yes, Zero."


	2. Chapter 2

Four's fists slam into Eric relentlessly. Blood spurts from the Erudite's nose and splatters across the floor. A connection to his mouth rattles loose a tooth, and an uppercut forces the teeth to slice his tongue. "Four!" Amar shouts. Four's eyes glaze over. He pounds Eric's ribs. Zero lunges forward - she knows it not Eric Four is seeing. She catches his hand as he raises it again. He whips around, ready to punch her, and then freezes. His breath comes in heavy pants.

"Four," Zero says, softly. Shame and horror leak into his face and he tears away from her hold. He flees out the door, into the compound. She lets him go. "Amar, continue on," she orders, crouching beside the half-conscious Eric. "Hey, can you look at me?" she questions. He lets out a small groan and tries to move. Blood dribbles from his mouth and nose, and already it looks like half his face was dipped in blue or black paint. "Don't move." She scoops him into her arms and stands, only slightly unbalanced.

"You got him?" Amar asks, running to her side.

"Yeah," she grunts. But maybe if he'd stop gaining muscle mass and height this would be easier. "Get the door?" Amar goes ahead and holds the door open as she walks out. It shuts softly behind them and they make the short trip to the infirmary in silence.

The moment the door opens JoAnna looks up. "You've got to be kidding me," she growls. She rushes over to the pair and snatches Eric away. "I don't know what you leaders think will come of pitting these kids against each other, but you're going to end up killing them all or give them permanent brain damage!" Sure enough, Eric bends over and vomits. "See! A concussion!" she snaps. "Get out of my sight before I get sick!"

Zero darts out into the hall before objects can be thrown. She takes a breath and looks back towards the training room, wondering if she should return. No, she decides. She should find Four. Should. She hesitates, sliding down the wall to sit on the floor. No doubt Amar will talk to him - those two are closer than she is, anyway. But she places her head in her hands. Amar. How can she kill him? How can she look him in the eye and throw him over the chasm? She sure can't do it without looking him in the eye, because that would be cowardice, and she absolutely cannot tolerate that. Silence soothes her as she thinks and turns over the situation in her head, desperately thinking of ways out.

After a half hour she springs to her feet and turns back to the infirmary. Why can't she get this Erudite kid out of her head? Agitated, she steps inside. JoAnna looks at her and scowls. "Come to kick some puppies?"

"Is he doing alright?" she asks, shifting nervously.

JoAnna narrows her eyes and then nods. "If you want to talk to him you better hurry before the painkillers knock him out." Zero nods and hurries past her, stepping into the next room quietly. Eric looks over at her, one eye swollen shut and face a giant bruise. All of his piercings are on the table next to him. Maybe he should have waited until after the fights to get all of those.

"That was a good fight," Zero tells him.

"Bullshit," Eric grimaces. He tries to sit up, obviously still a bit uneasy in her presence.

"Well, the first part, anyway. Maybe don't taunt him next time?" She sidles up next to him and brushes a lock of dark hair from his face. His grey eyes - well, eye at the moment - gaze up at her, tired. "Those painkillers kicking in?" Before she can process her emotions, her hand slips to cup the side of his face. He closes his not swollen eye and leans into her touch.

"Yeah."

She should pull away. Dammit, get out of here, Zero, she yells at herself. She knows why she can't get him out of her head. When she was roaming - er, terrorizing - the Amity fields looking for her next meal, she came across some little boy dressed in blue near the fence one evening. He was so obviously lost, but he didn't seem the least bit frightened. She couldn't have been more than twelve years old, which made him about nine. Even when he saw the enormous black furred wolf approach him, stomach growling, he didn't run. Instead he pulled a lunch from his backpack and held it out. He saved her life when the Amity wouldn't let her near any of their food.

And now he's lying down beaten in front of her. She leans down and kisses his cheek. His eye opens with shock. "You were fearless, Eric." In the past and in the fights, she adds to herself. She has no doubt he remembers that day clearly, but if it remains unspoken then so be it.

Maybe it was the painkillers, maybe the pain, maybe just the absurdity of getting the shit beat out of him by a Stiff, but Eric touches her hand before she can pull away. Now her head hovers by his. "Thanks," he manages. As they hesitate, the uneasiness leaves his expression. Something that makes his eyes darker lurks back, something that makes her want to lean in and break the instructor-initiate rules.

"Uh..." Fuck. What is she doing? "Uh, yeah." Clearing her throat, she steps back and clasps her hands behind her back. "Amar will come by later, check in on you. Tomorrow's a day off anyway, so relax. We'll tell you the rankings whether you're there for them or not." She drums her fingers on her legs, hovering near the door. Eric tries to focus on her, but his eyes slip shut. A laugh escapes her mouth. "Night, Four-Eyes."

* * *

><p>"Your boyfriend's on a power trip again," Amar tells her.<p>

"When is he not?" Zero absently answers, scribbling out a square on the map. She rests her forehead in her palm and stares at the paper with narrowed eyes. "And how the hell did you escape the compound without being seen?"

"Chasm, I told you." Amar pulls out a chair and sits across from her. "Let me see that... I'll find the tunnel for you..." Humming a soft tune, he looks over the map and then taps a small line. "Right there. It's not much taller or wider than me, so it's a limited option for evacuating divergent. But you're not listening to me. You're boyfriend's all riled up again."

"Then maybe you should let me back into the city to talk to him," she replies, giving him a hard look.

Amar just grins. "No can do, squirt. Not unless he's divergent and turns himself in. Which he's obviously not and would obviously never do."

"Don't call me squirt."

"No can do, Z." Amar takes the map from her and rolls it up. When she opens her mouth to protest he smacks her head with it and points at her. "You've been cooped up here for a week and hardly slept. We are going on a patrol through the fringe and getting you some fresh air. Matt says you need it," Amar adds. He taps the table. "I insist - otherwise I'll be bored with just Georgie."

Zero scowls. "I don't want to be your third wheel."

"I don't want you to wither away to nothing in here." He steps around the table and sits in front of her. "You need a distraction."

"I don't want a distraction. Lives are on the line," she insists, reaching out to grab the map. Amar holds it just out of reach, grinning. "C'mon, Amar!" After a few seconds she gives up and just gives him a look. "If I go will you stop bugging me?"

"Only if you agree to fight with me - Georgie doesn't believe we actually call you Zero for never losing a fight." She chuckles. "There's a laugh I haven't heard in weeks! Come on!" He slaps her arm. "Here's your map. We're leaving in an hour. Suit up!"

"Alright, alright. Is Matt in his office?" she asks. Amar shrugs. "I'll go find him, quick - he wants to test my blood. See what my genetics are." She and Amar stand and part ways, out different doors and into different sections of the building. Zero glances around, hesitating half a second before recalling the directions to Matt's office from this part of the building. Then she takes off at a run.

"Hey!"

"Excuse me!" she shouts back, dodging around workers. "Pardon me!" She uses the wall as a springboard and flings herself into Matt's door. "Matt!" she calls, pounding on the door. "Matt! Matt! Matt! Matt! Matt!"

"What!?" He flings open the door and sends her a glare. "You're like a puppy."

"Blood test?"

He blinks. "Oh, yeah." His eyes flicker back into his office and he inches the door and eclipses her view of the room. "Give me a minute? Top secret files, you know. I might trust you, but David will freak out if he figures out you saw them." Zero narrows her eyes but nods, stepping back. Matt disappears. She drums her fingers on her legs and looks around at the pristine walls. Nothing like Amity. If she could have it her way, there'd be mud spread from floor to ceiling and squirrels _everywhere_.

Matt opens the door soon after. He brandishes a needle and waggles his eyebrows at her. "Still afraid of needles?"

"Fuck off," she tells him, smiling.

He chuckles and motions her over to his rolly office chair. "Roll up you sleeve." Zero rolls it up and taps her foot, gazing around the piles of files and papers. Matt wipes her skin with an antiseptic wipe, wraps a tight band around her bicep, and slides the needle in. A few seconds later he pulls it out, pleasantly surprised. "Usually it takes a lot more effort than that when people are afraid of needles."

She shrugs. "Dauntless."

He rolls his eyes. "Dauntless until I get out the vacuum."

She laughs and gets out of the chair, rocking on he balls of her feet. "We're going to the fringe today."

Concern crosses his face. "Is that a good idea? Isn't it the full moon or something?"

"Doesn't affect me like that." She leans back against the wall and looks down at a file with cyrillic letters across the top. "Is this Russian?"

"Ukrainian, actually." He picks up and flips through it. Then he sighs and puts it back down. "When you come back from the fringe I think we need to talk."

"Talk?"

"It's about your... condition. Sort of."

Zero tilts her head. "I have forty five minutes."

"Uh, well... Why not just wait? I have to put together the right words." He scratches his neck and sits back down. Zero straightens and shrugs. "See you afterwards, Zero."

"See you then, Matt." She exits the room, letting the door click shut softly. Zero spends the next forty five minutes scrounging up her Dauntless uniform and finding her way to Amar and Georgie. "Hey, guys!" she shouts, startling them apart. They look back at her, wave, and then return to each other. Georgie touches Amar's hand and smiles. Zero hovers a little ways off. "You two are cute. It's gross."

They laugh. "You're ready, then?" Georgie's eyes flick down to her empty belt. "No weapons."

"I have me. Let's go!" They step outside and shiver in the fall air. Zero grins and springs forward, bones cracking and fur bursting from her skin. With a snarl she lands, tail up, proud, a wolf.

"Show off," Amar mutters. They hop into the truck and rev it to life. Non-perishable goods pile up in the back of it, a heap of kindness. The truck rolls forward. Zero takes off after them, tail wagging and barking. A few guards watch them go. One of them fingers the gun on his belt, marveling at how strange it feels to have a human weapon in hand.

The sun filters from above, glinting off the truck. They jerk to a sudden stop just outside a small encampment of tents and fast shelters. Zero shakes her pelt and prowls around the truck. People poke their heads out, eyes narrowing, fear-scent rolling off of their skin in waves, and scurry back inside. Amar unloads a sack of goods onto his shoulder. "Should we just set it in the center? I don't know how this all works."

"You go do that while I set up another camera over near the edge of the settlement," Georgie says. "Follow me, Zero?"

She trots alongside him, ears pricked for danger. Her and Georgie cut through the center of the encampment, conscious of eyes boring into their backs. Someone creeps out of their tent. Zero whips around and bares her teeth, but halts when she sees a small girl smiling, hands outstretched. "Puppy!" Georgie tightens his hand around his gun.

Zero sits and tilts her head, letting her tongue loll. "Skyler!" a female voice hisses, panic making her voice rise. Skyler rubs her hands along Zero's neck and head, making sure to scratch behind her ears. "It's dangerous!"

"She's harmless if you are," Georgie warns as the woman comes out of the tent. Zero covers Skyler's face with her tongue. Skyler lets out a giggle and hugs the wolf tight around the neck. "Go back to your mother," Georgie urges. "And there will be food in the center of your settlement," he tells the mother. Zero nuzzles the little girl as she pulls away and then stands, jumping up and down, tail wagging.

The woman grabs Skyler and pulls her back inside. "I thought she was going to shoot you - she had a pistol." Zero ignores him and instead paws at a seemingly permanent post. "Okay, yes. Good spot for the camera." As he crouches and begins to hook up the thing, Zero turns around and stares in the direction of the city. What's stopping her from going back? Everyone in Dauntless loved her. Fuck the other leaders. They don't matter. Georgie seems to sense her thoughts and pauses in his work. "They'll kill you if they can," is all he says. With one last longing look Zero returns to protecting her friend, thoughts far off.

* * *

><p>When he returns to the dorm, he's confused. The rankings are up, but no one seems to care. Everyone just sits on their lofts and stares at the floor, looking like zombies without a meal in sight. And then he catches Four's eyes. Fury and pure hatred emanates from them, and Eric knows that Amar must be dead. The other kid stands up and approaches Eric, shoving him back out the door. Eric winces in pain but puts an innocent look on his face.<p>

"Amar's dead."

"What?" So Zero killed him last night, then. After seeming so gentle in the infirmary, she went out and murdered her best friend. The thought makes his throat tighten - maybe she's just as wicked as he is. "How did that happen?"

Four slams him against the wall. He tries to speak, but the sheer rage can't be encompassed by language, and he lets Eric drop before fleeing further into the compound. Eric rubs his chest. The dull pain reminds him that no matter how hard he's tried, he's always been second to Four. Maybe stage two of initiation will change that. First off, he should find Zero. Some semblance of sympathy curls in his chest, something he was always told to squash down. Too fucking bad, Erudite. He's Dauntless now.

He finds her apartment and knocks on the door. "What, Max!?" she snaps from inside. She rips open the door and opens her mouth to snap some biting sarcasm, but stops when she sees Eric. He stares at her, seeing the bags under her eyes. "Eric," she greets. "Uh, come in. How are you feeling?" she asks. "You look...better."

"Feeling better. How..." he scuffs his foot on the carpet. Music floats through the apartment on a radio, just barely audible above their voices. "How are you?"

"I take it you heard about Amar's sudden plummet?" Eric nods. Zero sits down on the couch and blows out a breath. Her eyes stare unfocused on the wall, fingers tapping incessantly on the couch arm. "The funeral will be tomorrow. No training until after...Want a drink? Don't answer, you're getting one. Leader's orders," she says, standing and crossing to the fridge. She pulls out two bottle and hands one to him. At his expression she laughs, but it's still empty compared to her usual cheerful demeanor. "Don't worry, one just takes the edge off your problems. It won't do anything else."

She takes a bottle opener off her fridge and opens his, then her own. Tilting hers, she welcomes a soft clink against his bottle in a wordless toast. Then they sit together on the couch. Silence, save for the quiet music. Shaking her head, she gets up, downs her entire beer, and returns to the fridge. "I'm getting drunk. Want another? Five more?"

"Uh..."

"Help yourself when you want." She cracks open another and sits on the kitchen counter, placing her chin in her hand and staring off into space. Eric takes a drink. And coughs a little. "Not what you were expecting?" she asks with a chuckle.

"Not exactly." He stands and crosses over to her. Guilt makes him move. "I'm...sorry."

She shakes her head. "Don't. It's... long, convoluted, complicated - I'm blame myself, not you." She hesitates as if she wants to say more. Her eyes touch the ground before returning to his. He's struck by the familiarity of those golden eyes, and remembers the wolf he fed when he was completely lost. Then the wolf showed him back to Erudite headquarters, where his family picked him up and brought him home without any emotion save for frustration that he didn't have the sense to remember his way home. Zero leans forward on the counter, burying her face in her hands. At first he's afraid she's going to cry, but she doesn't make any unusual sounds save for an exhausted sigh.

He takes a drink. He's prepared this time, and he welcomes the warmth the liquid brings. Setting the beer down, he steps up to her. She kissed him in the infirmary - he can't be misreading all of this. Taking a chance, he brushes the back of her neck with a thumb. She leans forward so the top of her head touches his stomach, allowing him to continue stroking her skin. The music replaces their words. After a few seconds, she wraps her arms around his body and pulls him close, between her legs. He bends down and places a ghost of a kiss on her neck. It's hard to be certain in a situation like this. There has to be rules they're breaking.

At the touch she holds onto him tighter. "Don't ever turn yourself in," she whispers, making him stiffen. She knows he's divergent. But she doesn't let go, and Eric eventually holds onto her just as tight.


	3. Chapter 3

Eric shifts in her hold, bruised side making it uncomfortable. Zero lets her arms drop and looks up at him, suddenly aware of everything. The guilt punches her in the gut. "I'm sorry - I shouldn't - you shouldn't be in here. You should go." She brings her feet up onto the counter and slides back, wrapping her arms around her knees. "I'm...in a weird place. Don't take any stock in all of this," she tells him, heart pounding. What the hell is she thinking?

Eric doesn't leave. He's taken orders his entire life, been told how to live and what to feel, what's appropriate, what's inappropriate, and he's not about to let rules get in the way again. Without allowing himself to ponder the consequences, he presses his lips to her. His piercings press back, so he lets up the pressure and brings his hands up to draw her into a gentler kiss. She closes her eyes and kisses back, letting her legs return to their original position and relaxing into his lips. "That's a new way to talk back," she chuckles when he pulls away. Her eyes, dark with affection, lust, and guilt, alight on his face.

He clears his throat and allows a smile. "I suppose I tend to do that, don't I?"

"Only ever to me. Would it kill you to say something to John or Max every now and then?" She pulls him back down and kisses him, rougher, piercings digging into both of their skin. He lets out a soft moan as her tongue slips into his mouth. Her hands play with the hair on the back of his head, and he presses on the back of her neck to bring them closer together. After a while they break apart and Zero mumbles, "Stay here, today?"

She can't tell him what she found out last night, that Amar is alive, and the people who apparently exist outside of this city try to save every single divergent before they're killed. But she's been too efficient. The knowledge of it is crushing - not only is she a murderer, she's also so insignificant compared to the size of the world she wonders what really matters. Divergent and Jeanine Matthews obviously only live in this tiny city, and the enormous world obviously doesn't give a shit about them So why should she hold back when she cares so much about this transfer from Erudite?

"Yeah," Eric replies, breathless. He doesn't even think about the rest of the world outside the apartment. When he was lost, she brought him home to Erudite, and when he finally realized he didn't fit in and needed a new home she was immediately there, offering it to him in gunpowder and black clothes. He's hung onto her every word, always kept an eye out just to see her, and always demanded attention when she tried to lump him back into the faceless crowd of initiates after initiates. Of course he'll stay with her.

Zero brushes a lock of hair out of his face and tucks it behind his ear. When her hand glides over his bruises he winces a little. "Sorry," she apologizes. Eric shakes his head, beginning to grin. He's getting cocky. Her hands drop from his shoulder to his waist, and now she's fully conscious of where he stands in relation to her body. A small smirk plays on her lips. She wraps her legs around his waist and crashes their lips together. Eric lets out another moan as she presses herself against him. Yep, they're definitely breaking all the rules. He bites down on her lip, and she lets out a moan that makes him harder.

"God," he mutters as she breaks away and sucks on his neck and collar bone. His neck is going to match his face soon enough, except he's enjoying this far more than any of the fights. Perhaps he'd enjoy it even more if his ribs weren't groaning in protest.

"Don't flatter me, I'm only human," she murmurs.

He rolls his eyes. "Bad joke."

"Laugh, I'm your leader." He pushes her down onto the counter and pins her there. Then he pauses. What next? She relaxes and stares at him with a smile. "Need something?"

"I..."

"Bed?"

Eric laughs, red creeping up his neck and into his face. That's unknown territory for him, probably not for her, which means his inexperience will glare at them with vicious ferocity. She brushes his hands off of her torso and stands up. "Don't worry," she whispers into his ear, kissing the piercing there. Zero guides him to her room and pushes him down onto his back with another passionate kiss. She pauses and leans back, pulling off her shirt. Eric does the same and then runs his fingers up and down her sides as she returns to his lips. His hands eventually travel to her back and find her bra clasp.

Zero laughs lightly as he struggles with it. She reaches behind and undoes it herself, earning another blush of embarrassment from Eric. Embarrassed, he doesn't move right away. "Hesitating, Four-Eyes? Do I need to give you a lesson?"

"Not a chance," he growls. She lets out a shaky breath as his cold hands cup each breast. He smirks at her from below, pinching her nipples.

"Don't get too cocky," she says, reaching down and undoing his belt. Now he starts to hesitate again. Zero gets off of him to remove her own clothes, allowing him to do the same and catch a few moments of thought. Then she gets back on top of him, kissing him slowly. His arms wrap around her body and hold her close - for only being an initiate, he's well-toned and strong. But he's also got a remarkable lapse of confidence for being the second ranked, even including the Dauntless-born. "Wait a second," she tells him as she breaks the kiss. Leaning back just enough, she sinks down on his hard length.

He lets out a breath as shaky as hers, and his hands go to her waist. "Fuck," he groans. Zero kisses his throat as she begins to move. His hands tighten around her waist and then move down to her thighs.

"God, Eric," she says, the ghost of a laugh in his name. How the hell can she feel like this after only a month? He begins to move against her, pushing himself deeper inside. And then his ego gets a bit bigger. He flips them over so he's on top. "Not happening, Four-Eyes," she tells him, turning them over and pinning him down. He goes to try again, but she begins to bite and kiss his neck. Eric's fingers dig into her thighs - he doesn't try to move them again. "Close?" she asks, biting a bit harder.

"Yeah," he grunts, letting out a shuddering breath. He starts kissing her neck, but she shifts slightly, nibbles his throat, and he's gone. He bites down on her shoulder and traps her against him with his arms. "Zero," he moans into her shoulder.

After a few seconds she pulls herself off of him, but he keeps her fast in his arms. He buries his face into her neck and kisses it gently. "Zero," he whispers again. His hand rubs her shoulder while his other strokes the base of her back, encompassing and warm. His grey eyes find hers. She pulls the blankets up to their shoulders and then places their lips together.

"Eric," she whispers back, smiling against his lips. "Thanks."

"Mm," he answers, hand creeping up from her back to her face. He nibbles along her bottom lip and then pulls her closer so his head can rest above hers. She loops her arms around him. After another silence filled with only music, she closes her eyes. Just pretend the entire world is here, she tells herself. And it's not hard to pretend.

* * *

><p>Eric blinks awake in the fading light and then springs to his feet. "Shit!" He missed the meeting - he missed the fucking meeting! Growling, he opens the door, ready to sprint to the train tracks, and then he spots the paper slipped under his door. Raising an eyebrow, he shuts the door, picks up and unfolds the paper. Max's messy writing scrawls across it.<p>

_Killian will give you a rundown of the meeting today. Just know the event takes place the day after initiation is done. Get some rest, take some sleeping pills at night._

_-M_

Eric runs his hand through his hair and heaves a sigh. Even Max has noticed his deteriorating health, which means its time to get his shit together. He fists his hair and wets his lips. First, he has to stop thinking about her. Which means he has to get rid of everything that reminds himself of her. After paintball. He'll do it after the war games tonight. A smirk touches his face. No, it doesn't have to wait. If he can beat Four this time, it'll be a good start to the process. Darting back into his living room he snatches up his leather jacket. Twisting the piercing in his eyebrow, he locks his door and heads down the hall.

Ten o'clock. It'll be in two hours. When he steps into the dining hall the usual hush falls over the few scattered Dauntless members, only to be broken by a loud, "ERIC! TELL HARRISON TO FUCK OFF!"

"Dear, God," he mutters. He turns and throws his watch in the direction of John's voice. It strikes Harrison in the back of the head, allowing John to leap to his feet and laugh maniacally. Harrison glares at him.

"I told you he'd listen to me! Hahahahaha!" He prances around the other man. Harrison grabs him and slams him into the table. Eric turns away and instead spots Four eating alone. "He's going to pick me for his team and not you, Harrison!" Four glances up, locks eyes with Eric, and simply shakes his head.

"The one thing I don't miss about her," Eric says. Her and her friends were rowdy as fuck. Four actually cracks a smile. "You ready to lose, Four?"

"Not on your life."

"We can always make that a deal," he suggests. Four shakes his head and looks over at the one-sided, obnoxious conversation. "I don't understand them," Eric sighs, sitting down. Four just shrugs. They sit in silence for a little while, Four eating quickly, and Eric staring into space. Then he swallows the lump in his throat. Of all the people to ask... "Could you..." Four looks at him with a raised eyebrow. Eric trails off and looks away, embarrassed. Then he sees Shauna and Zeke approaching. They wave at Four and cast a confused look at Eric. "That's my cue. See you soon," Eric says.

Shauna and Zeke brush past the Dauntless leader and sit across from Four. "What did he want?" Shauna asks.

Four taps his chin with his fork. "I actually thought he was going to ask a favor, but he didn't finish his sentence."

"Weird," Zeke comments. "Think he's all psyched out because of this tonight? I mean, it is going to be weird without Zero around."

"Really weird," Shauna agrees. "Did we tell you she once ambushed us on the way home from school with the paintball guns, Four? Paint. Everywhere."

Four laughs. Zeke shakes his head. "First time I got bruised playing paintball - she lined us up and shot us all execution style while John and Harrison held us down. Some Dauntless leader - abuse of power is what I call it!" If only Eric would abuse his power that way instead of dogging his every step, Four thinks. They were a far cry from each other, Eric and Zero. Finishing his spaghetti, he reflects that when Zero died he lost an invaluable ally, a good friend, and possibly a sibling figure.

"Are we coming with?" Shauna asks, breaking the quiet.

Four looks between their excited faces and rolls his eyes. "I suppose."

They both belt out whoops and high-five. This, of course, attracts John's attention, who dances over to them. Four and Harrison stay quiet as the other three begin their aimless banter and play fighting. A light nudge catches Four attention. He turns to Harrison, who inclines his head towards John and grimaces. Four smiles. "I'll make sure you're on the winning team. Or should I say my team?"

Harrison grins, but instead of moving away he hands Four Eric's watch. He takes it and looks over the silver face and the dark leather band. His eyes widen when he sees the letter 'Z' and a tiny engraving of a howling wolf under the six and above the twelve. Zero's watch. Four looks to where Eric had disappeared, and hesitates. He should find him, give the watch back. He should figure out what possessed Eric to treat it so carelessly. But he can't find it in his willpower to seek out the unapproachable Dauntless Leader.

Instead he pockets the watch. Maybe he'll slip it back to him during paintball tonight.

* * *

><p>"Four," a voice calls.<p>

Zeke, Shauna, and Four all turn from the chasm to see Zero approaching them, looking exactly as a Dauntless leader should - proud and strong. Zeke nudges Four, who gets to his feet. Zero motions for him to come over, so he does. Anyone else and she would have put her arm around them, but she's dealt with Abnegation before and she knows that wouldn't be welcome. "Yes, Zero?" he asks.

"Are you doing alright?" He wasn't at Amar's funeral. She made sure to seek him out and had not seen tail nor head of him.

Four remembers his mother's warning. He can't trust Zero. "Fine."

She looks at him, knowing full well he's lying. But why would he be alright, when one of the few people in Dauntless he knows just apparently committed suicide? Instead she inclines her head. "Might I make a suggestion?" He nods. With a smile and wink she says, "Why don't you go embrace some of the Dauntless traditions? Get a tattoo, or a piercing. Dye your hair. Go hop on the train and jump off when you have no idea where you are." She clears her throat and waves at Zeke and Shauna. They wave back. "Your friends will help, if I know them at all. Good night, Four. Training resumes after tomorrow. Tell those two that if they're hungover I'm blasting music and screaming during stage two, just for them."

"Yes, Zero."

She knows he wants no further conversation, but she hesitates. Then she leans forward and whispers, "I'm here to help divergent." And then she turns and walks down the hall, jumping up not the railing and balancing along it when she gets the chance. Four stares after her, not believing what he heard her say. He returns to Zeke and Shauna.

"What did she want?" Shauna asks.

"She wants me to do something Dauntless."

"So something crazy?" Zeke grins like a wolf. "We can certainly help you with that."


	4. Chapter 4

Amar, Georgie, and Zero all climb into the truck. Zero hops in the back like a dog and lets her tongue fly in the wind. By now the sun has set, and the full moon peeks out, wide and unblinking like God's eye. "She's going to make a break for it when we get in sight of the wall," Georgie predicts. Amar looks in the rearview mirror and nods.

"I'm sure you're right. Do we let her go?"

Georgie licks his lips. "What if we give her an assignment? Shouldn't we extract that Pedrad kid soon, before Eric notices?"

"Uriah?" Amar shakes his head. "He's smart. He'll do fine - they haven't even begun stage two yet." The two lapse into silence, thinking. "She's been depressed. I think returning to the city will be good, even if she doesn't have an assignment. She's not stupid, so she'll stay out of sight of the people that recognize her." Then he scratches his neck, nervous. "David will kill us, though."

"Of course he will. But maybe it'd be good to have an inside eye? Watch the factionless, be ready for an emergency extraction, like when Aaron helped you. Ooh - pull the truck over! I'll give her my radio."

"Georgie, that's a horrible idea. Then David will know we let her go. It has to seem like an accident."

Georgie shrugs. "I could always say a GD broke it or stole it."

Amar laughs. "I'm sure you could say that. We're almost there - think she'll do it?"

Georgie looks back. "Oops, she did it."

"What!?"

"She's long gone, man!" Georgie laughs. When they both turn their heads in the direction of the city, they see a black figure loping across the fields. "Well, there's nothing we can do. Oh, no." They fist bump and slow down to enjoy the company of the night.

* * *

><p>Eric rubs his hands up and down his arms, staring into space. In this spot the water from the chasm rushes just loud enough to drown out all other noise, but just quiet enough to lull him to sleep. White noise. He closes his eyes and presses his palms into his eyes. A shuddering sigh escapes his mouth. It happened here. He can't help but imagine slipping over the edge, falling, crashing against the rocks...<p>

"Eric," she says, just above the chasm's voice. He grunts a reply, taking his hands away from his eyes and hoping she doesn't see how red they are, or how black they are underneath. Warmth tickles his arm as she sits down beside him. Zero touches his cheek and forces him to look her in the eye. "This isn't stage two doing this to you," she says. "Not entirely." Her thumb brushes just underneath his eyes. He pulls away from her touch and looks the other way. "You can tell me anything. I don't have to report anything to anyone," she reminds him, humor dusting her words.

He gives a hollow smile. "I don't want to talk about it." How can he explain the mixture of guilt, responsibility, self-hate and lack of agency to someone like her, so self assured she doesn't even think longer than a day about her past actions?

She sets a hand on his thigh, rubbing gently, soothingly. Not another sound escapes her. They sit like that for a while until Eric inches away from her touch. "What are you doing?" he asks, looking her in the eye. She shrugs. "You're not even a little bit guilty about Amar. Yesterday..."

She brings a hand to her eyes and rubs them. "It's... not a clear-cut thing."

"How is it not? You killed your best friend - you said so yourself. What's so important about me that you kept me alive over him?"

She shifts forward and sticks her feet into the spray of the rushing water. "I made a sacrifice. Either I lost one of you or lost my leadership position, probably became factionless, or lost my own life." A brief pause falls over them. "I'm a genetic experiment, Eric. You know all about me. Before Amity ruined my sense of smell, I could literally sniff out divergence. I could hunt them, kill them, eat them. When...when I was in Amity, I didn't know..." Zero shifts back and folds her legs, obviously trying to word her thoughts. Eric watches her with guarded eyes. "I suppose I didn't know what it meant to be human. It's hard for people to show kindness when they're scared, and I scared the shit out of Amity. I will admit, I enjoyed the thrill of being feared. And then there was that day when I came across the lost Erudite boy, who gave me some food and didn't act the least bit scared."

"It all comes back to that, doesn't it?" Eric says. Zero inches towards him, and this time he doesn't shy away from the hand on his shoulder. "So you picked me over him because I gave you food?"

A laugh. She leans over and kisses his cheek. "You gave me the humanity I didn't have before then."

With a smile he puts an arm around her waist and pulls her close. In the back of his mind he begins to make connections in the wrong way, skipping over unknown facts and smudging lines until he finds Zero remorseless. And he respects it.

* * *

><p>When Eric hops off the train, he looks at his group of initiates and John, bouncing on his heels excitedly with a ridiculous grin on his face. Shaking his head, Eric waves his hand. John leaps on the opportunity and gathers the entire team around, save for Peter. Eric takes the Candor transfer aside. "We're going to hide the flag," he tells him. He produces the glowing fabric from his pocket. "Any ideas?"<p>

When Zero had lost, they had hid it in a tall tree surrounded by a barricade of lower trees. In the midst of 'rainbow sparkles' as she so eloquently put it, she had tripped, fell out of the tree, and practically delivered the flag into Four's hands. Last year, they had put it on the ferris wheel. Four turned it on, put an initiate nearby, and covered him until the flag floated into their clutches. As much as Eric itched to win, he knew the unspoken rule: You let initiates do the important stuff.

Peter surveys the landscape with a critical eye. John glances up at Eric and nods to show he has a plan. Half of Eric dreads to see the plan, but the other half is pretty damn excited to see what stunt he plans on pulling. "Let's hide it in the building. There are plenty of windows to watch from, and if we put it the flag at the top they have no hope of climbing up."

"A defensive plan, I like it!" John throws in. He turns back and points at Molly. "You, Tank! You get the ground. Drew, commence the glass line outside!"

"Glass line?" Eric questions.

"It'll be awesome! You'll see!" John says. He bounces on his feet and shoots a paintball in the air. "LET'S GO!"

Eric punches him. "They're going to fucking hear you!" he hisses. The initiates and Dauntless members wary of being on Eric's team move out behind their initiate leaders. Peter leads the pack, with Eric and John close behind. And then the squeaking and groaning of metal on metal starts. All of them whip their heads around and see the ferris wheel spinning, lights attempting to wink at them. "Found Four," Eric says.

"We should wait. They'll be expecting us to creep towards them," Peter says. He casts a glance to Eric for reassurance, but the Dauntless leader ignores him and keeps staring into the woods. John and Drew crawl inside and point their guns at the windows. Molly sets everyone up around buildings, hiding behind trees and leftover piles of ancient, unusable things. Eric keeps staring into the woods, unsure. He swears he saw something familiar creep between the trunks, thought he heard a rustle of feet on leaves...

"Eric!" John says.

He snaps out of his thoughts and enters the building. Dust covers the floor and rains down from the ceiling as Dauntless overrun the rickety floors. Eric grins. Putting his gun in his belt, he climbs up and nestles in the rafters. They groan under his weight. "Hold out," he whispers, looking out the dirty windows. "And here they come."

Screams of surprise and even a few laughs sound outside as Eric's team jumps Four's tiny army. And then John's voice rings out.

"FIRE, MOTHERFUCKERS!"

Glass shatters. Eric's jaw drops as it rains down on everyone outside. John's maniacal laugh echoes in the night, only to be cut off by a "That fucking hurt, Harrison!" Shaking his head, Eric readies his gun as Four's team bursts through the door. Smirking, Eric waits. His team begins to pick off the opposition, one by one, but it's obvious they're well matched. His own team falls, and Four's rushes up the stairs.

And then Four walks in. Eric hones in and raises his gun, taking aim at his chest. He shoots.

Four lets out a grunt of pain as green splatters across his chest. "I got Molly!" someone says as two more figures run in. The Stiff and Candor, Eric notes. He shoots again, but Four pushes the Stiff out of the way and takes the hit. "Eric!" the Candor cries. She points up and shoots.

Eric leans and dodges the paint. Dust shudders down from the rafters and he repositions himself to shoot back. And then the rafter gives way. "Shit!" He latches on to another with his hand, saving himself by a hairsbreadth. And then the familiar slap of paint strikes his back.

"Go, go!" Four shouts.

Eric drops down to the floor. He shakes his head and straightens, looking over at Four with a smirk. "The ferris wheel, huh?"

"Accident," Four brushes off. He smiles at Eric sweetly.

"Whatever." He picks up his fallen gun and points out the door. "Want to have fun with the people already out?"

Four grins. Together they rush out the door, shooting blindly into the small crowd of defeated people. John cries out comically and stumbles backwards into Harrison, who's aim is thrown wide and hits Uriah in the back of the head. "Hey!"

Eric belts out a laugh and shoots John in the leg. The older man stands up and run at the leader, letting out a war cry. "Fat chance!" Eric says, kicking John's feet out from under him. He crashes to the ground only to reach over and latch onto Four's legs.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

Shauna leaps on him in a second, showering Four in a rainbow of paint. Zeke joins up seconds later, along with Uriah and Harrison.

"They got the flag!" All of their heads whip around to see the Candor, Christina, jumping up and down and waving the glowing flag through the night air. John lets out a long protest and then collapses into Harrison's arms. Harrison dumps him onto Four.

"Damn," Eric mutters.

Zeke slaps Eric on the back. "Good game!" Shauna kicks John off Four and gives him a hand up. "That was a pretty badass move with the window, John," Zeke compliments.

"Speaking of which, is everyone alright?" Four asks.

"Everyone's fine," Shauna says. "Come on, we gotta go celebrate!" She tugs Zeke and Harrison along, leaving John to scramble after them.

"Eric, good game," Four says, holding out his hand. Eric takes his hand, ready to return the words, and then he freezes. Four leaves before he can process the item in his hand, and when Eric looks down at the silver watch his good mood ends. Gritting his teeth, he shoves the watch into his pocket and storms away from the celebrating Dauntless. He'll find his own way home.


	5. Chapter 5

Zero lopes along the train tracks, breathing in every familiar scent and reveling in the night. The tracks begin to shake. Before she can see the train, she bounds off into the ditch and waits, crouching down. It rushes by in a whirlwind, full of cheering, chattering Dauntless. They must have finished, she thinks. She wonders if Eric won - he had John on his team, which means something insane happened between when she almost got caught by Eric and now.

Tongue lolling, she continues on after the tracks stop shaking. But something hits her nose and she halts, ears pricked. What's he doing, not on the train? Zero puts her nose in the wind and follows the scent across the tracks and back towards a cracked and crumbling part of the city, too overgrown and ruined for even the factionless to occupy. His favorite place. She has to admit, it does look like one of those gothic settings he likes so much.

She shouldn't go near him. Her paws carry her forward anyway.

Eric sits with a knee pulled to his chest, flipping a knife between his fingers. He stares at nothing as he sits perched on a cracked roof, eyes overlooking the ruins and not even contemplating their reason for destruction. Zero sits in the shadows, watching him. Yet more piercings cover his ears and eyebrows, and his black hair has been cropped short, atop a mostly shaved scalp. His eyes harden and he kicks the building. Brick gives way under his foot and tumbles to the ground - he probably shouldn't be sitting on that weak a structure, she thinks.

"Damn," he growls, rubbing his foot.

She suppresses laughter, but her tail wags of its own accord. Shit.

He whips around and throws the knife - Zero springs to her feet, but it sinks right into her front paw. Her yelp echoes around the deserted buildings. "_Fuck!_"

Eric leaps down off the building and rushes over to her, pounding her across the face and kicking her to the ground. He pushes his boot down on her chest. "What the hell are you doing? All initiates should be back on the train, heading - "

Zero throws him off and tugs the knife out of her hand. "What the fuck were you doing!? Throwing knives at initiates!? What's wrong with you!?" She chucks the knife back at him, and it digs into the dirt by his feet. He stops moving, jaw ajar. Zero reflects his expression, realizing the situation at hand. "Uh..." She takes a step back.

"You're not an initiate," he stupidly says.

"And you still shouldn't throw knives, regardless."

He gets to his feet and stands straight. Both watch each other, hesitant, very aware of the time passed between them and how much they've changed. He became more ruthless, calculating, spiteful, tortured... And she came back to life. "You're not a ghost." He swallows, fingers twitching.

Run. Matt's going to be pissed, and David twenty times worse. She needs to go. Now. "Not a ghost," she agrees. When he still doesn't move she steps towards him, leans down, and slips the knife from the earth. She gives it to him handle-first. "Want it?" she asks when he hesitates. He scratches his neck and then pulls something silver from his pocket.

"Trade," he murmurs. They exchange them - a watch for a dagger.

"You... kept it."

Eric grabs her arms and pulls her close, pressing his face into her neck and embracing her like a mother bear who just found her cub. Zero returns the hug just as tightly. Night keeps them company. Silence watches them. After a little while Zero says, "I should really leave." Somehow he manages to hold her even tighter. "You make a convincing argument," she remarks. She feels his mouth move - a smile into her shoulder. Then she reaches up and strokes the back of his neck and closes her eyes.

"You might get a word out of Harrison," Eric whispers.

She pulls away. "No one can know. And this is great, but I gave it to you," she says and slips the watch into his pocket.

He catches her hand. "You're bleeding."

"No shit, you threw a knife at me."

His eyes go wide, as if he completely forgot. "I'm sorry!" Maybe he did in sudden turn of events.

"Did I just elicit an apology from the terrifying Dauntless leader?" Zero fake-gasps, pulling her hand away. Someone will fix it up without a problem after Matt chews her out and then David gives her a guilt-inducing lecture. Eric scowls at her. She leans forward and kisses him on the cheek. "I'll get in trouble if I'm here any longer," she tells him just as he pulls her lips to his.

"Don't care. I'm the leader," he mumbles against her mouth.

"You're not a very nice one," she replies, fighting the urge to give in. She leans away from his face. "I can't be in the city."

"You've been outside the city this whole time?" he asks, eyes lighting up with that old curiosity that Dauntless just couldn't beat out of him.

Zero curses in her head. "Yes." He wants an explanation. She shouldn't give him one. Fuck. "How much time do you have right now?"

He smirks. "Not much," he blatantly lies.

But she's heard the answer she wants, even if she knows it's not true. "Fucker."

* * *

><p>When Amar and Georgie get back to the main building, they halt the car and lean out the windows. "Holy shit." Blood smears from the walls to the ground, dripping in thick streaks. The two guards lie there, one with his limb torn off and the other with his stomach ripped open, wide to the world. Already ants crawl over his intestines, and two crows land on the gutter. "What the fuck?" Georgie hops out of the car.<p>

"Wait!" Amar calls. Georgie keeps going. "What if the killer's still around? Get back here!"

"Keep the truck running, then!" Night's indistinguishable shadow dogs his every step. Georgie leans down and examines the two men. He gags and covers his nose and mouth, using his gun instead to prod the man's cheek. His head falls to the side, off his head and onto the ground. Ragged skin, as if it was torn, rings every wound. Bite marks puncture the skin on his throat, almost like a wolf.

Zero?

No. He uncovers his mouth and picks up a strand of short, white, thick and coarse hair. Fur.

"It's an animal," Georgie calls to Amar.

Amar gets out of the truck, gun in hands. He draws up to Georgie and then looks away from the gore. "How can you tell?"

"He's got bite marks on his throat and the skin looks ragged. Plus, I just found white fur. Neither of them has white hair, so it must be from an animal." Georgie stands up and backs away from the ant-ridden corpses. "Think it's inside? I don't hear any alarms. Did you call this in over the radio?"

"I did, but I didn't get any responses."

Georgie looks at the doors. "I'm going to go and investigate. We have to kill it."

Amar shakes his head. "You're an idiot, but I'm coming with you. Truck's still running if we need a getaway." He goes up the stairs and opens the thankfully-silent door, gazing inside at the empty hallways. Red spatters decorate the halls, but there aren't any more corpses. Georgie comes up behind him. Amar doesn't say a word and slips inside. Georgie follows, shutting the door. Shuddering, Georgie swings his gun around, aiming down each hall they come across, letting Amar find the way. And then they hear it. A scream. A snarl.

They both whip around and prowl to the sound, hearts pounding to a unison, furious rhythm. The blood trail leads to a door - Matt's office. The exchange a glance, then nod. Amar rushes forward and slams open the door, allowing Georgie to jump in and take aim at the single foreign thing in the room. The wolf turns and lets out a roar just as he pulls the trigger.

Blood opens on its chest like a star. It falls to the ground, twitching. Guttural noises escape its throat, but it eventually falls still, eyes glassy. "What the fuck is that?" Georgie asks to the shivering inhabitants. "And where is everyone else?"

"We went into lockdown," Matt answers, voice riddled with pain. Amar hurries to the man and helps him stand. Matt clutches his new stump-of-a-hand to his chest, red leaking through his fingers and covering his clothes and shoes. "It got my hand."

"Get him to the infirmary!" One of the shocked people manages to sputter. Amar lifts Matt and allows him a leaning post. They begin to hobble away as Georgie uses Matt's radio to announce that the wolf is dead. He then follows the two.

Now the hallways spring to life, with all sorts of forensics people piling down to Matt's office. "If they mess anything up I'll kill them," Matt swears.

"What was that wolf?" Georgie asks. He wants his thoughts to be wrong.

"Zero wasn't the only experiment," he grunts. "Erudite has at least four, maybe even more now. David keeps the videos to himself. They're designed to kill GP's, but Zero was the only successful one."

"And since she's dropped out they've let the others go?"

"Apparently. Where is she?" Matt asks through his haze.

"Uh..."

"She took off to the city...?" Amar says.

"WHAT!?" Matt stops walking.

"Well, I mean, we couldn't stop her," Amar tries. He urges Matt to keep making progress towards the infirmary.

"Maybe she'll calm down Eric and stop Jeanine," Georgie adds.

Matt shakes his head and shuts his eyes. "She betrayed them the moment she allowed Eric to live," he snaps. "The moment they catch sight of her back in the city they'll release every experiment just to get rid of _her_ before she ruins everything! The dead aren't supposed to come back. No one lives outside the city. No one knows about GD's and GP's."

"Except her," Amar finishes. He curses, too. If they let dangerous experiments go to kill Zero, then more than just the divergent are in danger.


	6. Chapter 6

"Have you been here since training?" Zero asks Eric as they patrol along the fence. When he shakes his head she smiles. "Good. Then you'll experience your first game of The Great Fuckers with me. Don't worry, I'm horrible at it, but the only person worse is John."

Eric lifts his eyebrow but doesn't ask. He'll find out soon enough, he supposes. And it'll be one hell of a revelation. She slips an arm around his waist and pulls him close enough to peck him on the cheek. He smiles. John staggers along behind them, a drunk smile plastered to his face. "Best game ever," he manages without slurring. "And you two are cute."

"John, please don't get so close to the edge," Zero casts back. Eric shoulders John's gun as well as his own - Zero had made sure to swipe it away the moment she saw his too-happy face. He manages to twist his neck around to see John take just a few too many unsteady steps. "I don't want to scrape you off the Amity fields. Although I'm sure you'd fertilize their crops nicely." Eric feels John get closer to his gun, so he quickens his pace. Zero falls in between them.

"That's not nice," John pouts.

"I'm warning you about the ledge!"

Zero's radio crackles. "Activity in the factionless sector. Zero, you're closest. Can you check it out? Harrison is on his way with his squad."

Zero glances back at John. "Sure," she replies. "We only have two, though." She puts the radio back on her belt and steers John back towards one of the bigger watch posts. "Go back and sit when you find a big enough place. I'll come get you in a little bit." Both of them watch John stumble off to the wider length of the fence, where he sits and dangles his feet over the edge. With a giggle John kicks his shoe off. Eric suppresses a laugh. "He's like a five year old," Zero mutters.

"What does activity mean?" Eric questions.

Zero shrugs. "Could mean anything, but usually it just means a factionless person or two got into a fight with some Dauntless guards over food. We're just there to look scary while they take care of it. Nothing to worry about," she adds with a smile. Eric nods and follows. They climb down one of the ladders and land on the cement. Both ready their guns and step forward into the factionless sector, casting their gazes around the crumbling buildings. It's oddly quiet. Footsteps sound behind, so they turn to see Harrison coming down with three other Dauntless members. Shauna's among them.

Comforted by someone her own age and with the same nonexistent amount of experience, she draws up alongside Eric. He glances her way but says nothing. Has he ever seen her kind? Has she ever seen him... not pissy?

"Where was the activity, exactly?" Zero asks, scratching her head. Harrison shrugs, narrowing his eyes at the buildings. She brings the radio to her mouth and asks, "Where is the, uh... activity?" Activity. "Is it suspicious? Dangerous? Just... odd?" She lets go of the button and waits.

"It was not specified."

"Who called it in?"

"Don't know."

Zero taps the plastic-wrapped antennae to her head. "Any idea of the area?" Eric looks around, taking a step back and bumping into Shauna. She jerks a little in surprise, but looks the other way as if they're a team scanning for danger. Harrison imitates them, jaw setting. The other two Dauntless move away, peering into the cracked windows.

"No."

"Who the hell assigned you here?"

"Max."

Harrison and the other Dauntless stare at the radio. Zero raises her gun and turns around. "So what's your name and what sort of grudge do you hold against the factions?" She opens fire on a building. Harrison swings to another and waits, while the other two take the other directions. Shauna and Eric look around wildly. No one answers back on the radio. Licking her lips, Zero creeps up to the window, gun pointed in. And then one of the nameless Dauntless turns around and fires.

Harrison whips around, and in those two seconds two bodies hit the ground. The shots echo in the cement jungle.

"Oh my God!" the other nameless Dauntless exclaims. Harrison falls to his knees beside Zero, helping her to sit up.

"I'm fine," she grunts, opening her shirt. "Fucker got my vest."

The five all turn to the body lying on the ground. Zero kicks him over, sees he's been shot in the forehead by Harrison, and shoots him again. "Who is he?" Shauna asks.

"Factionless," Eric answers for them, taking in the man's scraggily beard, his gaunt face, the haggard eyes and too-skinny body. He looks up, meeting their gazes. Zero's reacting already, cogs turning. "He infiltrated Dauntless - they've infiltrated Dauntless."

"And we'll weed them out," she growls. Her gold eyes flash with a dangerous glint and she prowls forward.

"I don't think that's a good idea - we should go the radio tower," the other Dauntless says. He looks around with wide, terrified eyes.

Zero finally nods and retreats. "Eric, why don't you run ahead and pull John along? No doubt he heard the gunshots." And even as he turns, he hears the third shot of the day. Shauna screams. More shots. Eric snaps his gun up and fires, too, at the sniper on the fence. The sniper above lets out a strangled cry and falls. His body splat on the pavement, face breaking. He looks away, back at everyone else.

"Zero!" the nameless Dauntless gasps.

Blood pools around her. Harrison rips open her shirt, revealing the wound in her shoulder.

* * *

><p>"Target down," Palo tells her.<p>

Evelyn allows a single, empty smile. "Thank you." As he shuts the door, she steps over to a small pile of papers on her table. She pulls a small one out. She crosses Zero's name out. "One Erudite bastard down," she murmurs.

* * *

><p>"What happened?" Max asks. JoAnna's assistant, Misty, pushes him out of the infirmary and slams the door. Max just stares at the door, eyes wide. "Factionless?" he breathes. "Jeanine needs to know." Eric's curiosity pricks at the name of his old faction leader, but he doesn't move. Max doesn't seem to notice him there. "She's the only one..." Max runs his hands over his head and blows out a breath. "Damn. Damn. Damn."<p>

He moves down the hall, leaving Eric alone. The new Dauntless member looks at the infirmary door and then stands. He enters and shuts the door without a sound. Creeping back, he finds Zero's room without any trouble, what with the panicking nurses. None of them have ever dealt with a wounded leader. In the chaos he just slips to the ground outside her room, leaning his head back against the cool wall and waiting with his eyes closed. A nurse nearly trips over him a half hour later.

"Woah!" Misty steadies herself with a hand on the wall. "What are you doing there?"

"Zero?" he asks, half preparing to stand up.

"She's fine, now," Misty answers, giving him a hand. "Bleeding has stopped, bullet's out. It'll suck, but her shoulder will be fine eventually. Who are you, exactly?" she asks, seeming to have forgotten about the whole 'privacy of patients' thing until now.

"Uh..."

"Ah," she interrupts with a flicker of recognition. She's seems that mixed look of worry, embarrassment, uncertainty, and apprehension before. "I won't tell anyone if you go in. But only for a minute or two."

Eric nods and slides through the door. He sees her lying on the bed, looking small and pale. How could he have been afraid of her at one point? "Zero?" he asks quietly. Her eyes open a sliver, and then close again. He goes back out. She'll be fine.

"She'll be home in a few days," Misty tells him. Eric nods and manages to sneak out without JoAnna noticing him.

* * *

><p>"Aren't you supposed to be resting?" Eric asks when he walks into her apartment and finds her standing in the kitchen, eyes wide like a deer in front of the train.<p>

"Uh..." He prowls forward, snatches the beer out of her hands, and nudges her back to her room. "But I'm _bored_," she protests. "Can't John and Harrison come over?"

"No." When they came a week ago, before Eric left for fence duty, they somehow managed to light the couch on fire. In the ensuing panic, John burnt himself, Harrison almost caught his hair on fire, and Zero had reopened her wound trying to put it out. Eric swooped in with water and saved the three bumblefucks. "If you'd lie down you might actually heal in time for the next fence patrol," he says in a persuasive, condescending tone.

"Don't talk to me like I'm five."

"But you are five."

She lies on the bed with a suppressed groan, taking care not to let anything touch her shoulder without her full expectation. Eric looks at the pills by her bed. "You've been taking those, right?"

"Antibiotics and painkillers, yes."

"And you were going to drink while on painkillers?"

"Dauntless don't need livers."

"You're going to fucking kill yourself," Eric mutters. He sets the bottle back on the bedside table and picks up the water to take a sip. "Fence duty isn't fun without you," he says, setting the glass down.

Zero shifts to watch him. "I missed you," she tells him. He lies down next to her, dark hair splaying over the pillows. "How was the fence?"

"Relatively peaceful." Aside from the heightened paranoia of the possibility of faction less among them. Eric rolls up his sleeves and then puts his hands behind his head. "John mentioned something about Jeanine coming to talk to you," he says. "What did she want?"

Zero sighs and closes her eyes. "Another kill."

"Who?"

"An Erudite member. Obviously, I told her she was going to have to wait. She didn't like that. So I told her to fuck off." Eric turns his head and kisses her. Zero smiles and lays her hand on his face. He tries to put his arms around her, backs off from her shoulder, tries a different angle, and then rests back with a glower. "Having trouble?"

He settles for putting his hand over hers and resting their foreheads together. "Missed you, too. Five days is too long." He trails a finger near the top of her arm. "How does it feel?"

"Eh." Obviously the painkillers are kicking in, he notes. Her eyes look a bit glassy and her eyelids keep opening slower and slower. Eric stops talking, and she falls asleep. Her steady breathing lulls him asleep, straight through the evening until Zero wakes up at midnight. She gets up, doing her best to let Eric continue sleeping, but he wakes up the moment she leaves the bed.

"Zero?" comes his groggy voice.

"Just a minute." She sets her head in her hands and lets out a sigh. Pain throbs in her shoulder. Eric sits up and grabs the pills and water, getting up to kneel beside her. The pain spreads up, into her neck, enveloping her brain in a haze. "Fuck."

"Zero?"

She drops her hands and looks at him, red spreading over her eyes. "Shit - get away!" Zero jumps back, rolling across the bed and hitting the wall. The impact jars her shoulder. The sudden agony forces the red away, and she relaxes, breathing heavily and staring at Eric with a half-awake gaze. He crosses the room, pills and water outstretched.

"It's just me."

"You're divergent," she mutters. He slips the pill bottle into her hand. "I shouldn't..."

He bends his head down and gives her a soft kiss. "Let's go back to bed," he whispers, hands coming up to cup her face. "Divergents are tomorrow's worries." His hands guide her back to bed, managing to slip one arm around her waist without touching her shoulder. "Out of the night that covers me," he whispers into her ear, "Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be, for my unconquerable soul..." When he finishes reciting, she's back asleep. He lies awake, thinking about her words, the slight change in her eyes, the elongation of her teeth and nails. She still has a scent for divergent. She still wants to kill them.


	7. Chapter 7

Jeanine jumps when the beeping slices through the silence of her office. She rushes to the window sill and takes the small alarm from the ledge, staring at it with what could only be described as Erudite curiosity, because that's what every emotion amounted to in her brain. Sickening curiosity. Pressing the tiny black button on the side, she sets it down. A smile tugs at her lips. Experiment 01014 has returned.

* * *

><p>Zero glances side to side, licking her lips. She can feel the eyes. Luckily, they're almost to the compound. "Let's talk just out here - there's that blind spot from the cameras, remember?" she says. Eric smirks. Oh, he remembers that spot very clearly. Under their feet the ground shifts from dirt to cement. Eric slips his arm around her waist and pulls her with him tight against one of the older buildings. They scoot into a crevice in the building, just under a camera that lacks the capability to look anywhere but out of the deep crevice. Once in he smashes his lips to hers. His hands grip her waist with a ferocity that makes her clutch the back of his head. It must have hurt him - not that he gives any indication. Instead he lets out a growl and presses her against the bricks.<p>

Just enough room for her to wrap her legs around his waist. She breaks the kiss to suck on his neck, and he grinds against her. A small moan escapes her throat - Fuck, shit, the eyes - and then she pulls away from his neck and drops her legs to the ground. He watches her, confusion obvious on his face. She looks out the crevice, eyes narrowing at the darkness. If she could just shift and get a good look, then she'd know exactly who or what...

"What is it?" Eric whispers, muscles tense. He gazes into the darkness and presses his body over hers. Fuck whoever they are if they think they can take her away.

"Don't know." Her nostrils burn. Erudite. With a growl she pushes Eric off. He tries to pull her behind him, but she rips away and bursts into a wolf. Another wolf meets her halfway. They crash together in a flurry of fur and claws. Blood spatters the wall. Their yelps echo into the night, and Eric yanks out his gun. With a trained eye he lifts the weapon and levels the shot at the tornado spinning in front of him. Silver and black. For a split second the wolves spring apart. He pulls the trigger.

Its head explodes, brains everywhere. Zero springs back from it, teeth still bared. She approaches it with cautious steps, sniffing the corpse and then sneezing. "Is it... like you?" Eric asks. Zero steps back and reverts back to her human form, wincing at the pain crawling up her ribs. Shifting takes its toll and it takes it fast.

"I... I think so." She swallows. "Do we... what do we do?"

Eric stares at it. "Leave it. Leave our mark off of it - let's get out of here without the cameras seeing us. Can you be a good dog in the compound?" he asks with a wry smile. She nods and ignores his words, still staring at the corpse. "I'll mention it to Max and Jeanine. They know I know about you, so they'll be willing to explain. I think you're dead, so they'll explain this in a heartbeat. They don't want me defecting for you." When she doesn't move he pulls her away. "You still need to tell me some things," he reminds her with a whisper in her ear.

She snaps out of her thoughts and shifts back into a black wolf. Eric winces when he hears her bones snap and mend back into place, skin falling off in bloody pieces to the ground. Damn, it's gotta be fucking painful. But she never says a word. Eric leads the way, hurrying through the dead corridors of the compound to unlock the door to his apartment. It doesn't even occur to him that she could have slunk away without a word. It does occur to her while she gives him time before she creeps through the compound and avoids all the cameras, but she doesn't do it. "Sorry guys," she mumbles to herself before sneaking in.

She's found Eric, and there are obviously more experiments. She won't be leaving Chicago anytime soon.

When she gets down to Eric's apartment she slips in and shuts the door. He gets up from the couch and crosses over, embracing her the moment she turns human again. Before she can say anything he draws her hand out and examines the knife wound. "Sorry," he says again.

She smiles. "I've had worse. It'll heal in a few days." Eric presses himself close, reaching to grab something off the counter behind her. She pecks his cheek as he draws back, earning a smile from the stoic, fearless Dauntless leader. He rubs some ointment in to the wound and then places a bandage on it, touching his lips to her knuckles. Then he presses close again to put the bottle back on the counter. She wraps her arms around him and holds him tight, counter digging into her lower back.

He buries his face in her neck and mumbles, "You said you had a story?" His hands slip under her shirt and run up and down her back in a soothing motion. She can feel his erection against her leg, but he makes no attempts to hide it nor to arouse her. He just breathes, piercings digging into her skin like they always did before. She closes her eyes in his comforting familiarity.

How much should she say? Maybe nothing? Nothing is probably best. So therefore a lie is fantastic. "Yeah... So after I was shot, well, you know..." She swallows and forces the anger down. The anger has lessened after a year and a half, but it still pisses her off. Fuck Max, fuck Jeanine. Her shoulder is perfectly fine and would never have given her any reason to leave Dauntless. "I managed to escape in the chasm. I got far enough down and jumped into the water. It was fucking freezing, I tell you... It took me straight out of the city and I only almost died." Truth. Good. Makes the lie more believable. "Since I wasn't able to come back, I just stayed out there. I've been trying to think of ways to take down Jeanine from the outside, but there's nothing out there except bears and fish." Okay... that was a pretty lame lie, she had to admit. But he seems to buy it.

"Why didn't you come back? I... " He swallows. "I... I would have come with."

An admission of feelings? Zero smiles and twists her head so she can kiss him on the cheek again. She feels his smile move his piercings, and then he lifts his head to press their lips together. "There's a reason everyone's in the city, Eric," she whispers between kisses. "It's a wasteland out there." A wasteland of untapped, beautiful resources and paradise. Maybe a few odd, terrifying robbed and empty graves, but beautiful nonetheless.

"If you found a way then you would have found one for me."

It's her turn to bury her face in his neck. "I'm sorry." He pulls her closer, warm hands still on her shoulder blades. After a few seconds of silence, she remarks, "You've gotten taller."

The chuckle rumbles in his chest. "Imagine that." Pause. "So what made you come back?"

"You," she answers in a whisper. And then the quiet moment ends. He finds her lips and pulls her even tighter against his chest, pressing the air out of her lungs, and one hand dropping to her ass. His tongue dives into her mouth and he pushes her back into the counter. She wraps her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. Eric lets out a low groan, grinding against her as he yanks off her shirt.

He tosses it to the ground, sees the bruises climbing up her side, and hesitates. "Just from turning," she assures him. Eric licks his lips and then bends, lips lighter than a butterfly as he brushes up her side to her shoulder. When he gets to her collar bone she takes his face in her hands and kisses him slow. His palm cups her cheek and he smiles into her lips. With his other arm tight around her waist he lowers her onto the counter. Breaking the kiss, he marks a slow trail down her jaw and throat. Zero undoes her belt, leaning up and capturing his lips. Her hands find his belt and zipper. The two part long enough to fumble with their clothes, impatiently tugging the too-resistant material to the floor.

When everything finally falls to the floor they hesitate, gazing at each other. His hands touch her waist, careful of the bruises, and he leans his head down to the crook of her neck. He pushes into her, lips blowing a breath over her skin. "Eric," she sighs.

He places his forehead against hers, hands holding her in place as he gently fucks her with the kind, soft side of him no one else was ever allowed to see. "Love you," he whispers, gazing into her eyes with his own dark grey, half-lidded eyes. She shifts, creating a new angle that makes them both let out a shaky breath. Zero molds her lips to his, one hand on the back of his head and the other pressed softly into his back as he moves inside her. It's not long before she curls into him and he folds down on her, both releasing in each other's arms.

They sit there, she propped up on her elbows and him standing with his arms wrapped around her and head against hers. "Love you, too," she whispers back. He chuckles at the delayed reply. "I missed you," she says, one hand coming up to lay flat on his face, thumb stroking his cheek. He closes his eyes and leans into the touch. God, he missed her, too.

"John and Harrison won't leave me alone," he finally says, opening his eyes to see her reaction.

Her eyes get wide. "Oh my God. I'm so sorry. They haven't tried to play knives and snakes with you have they?"

"We almost couldn't have had sex tonight," he informs her.

"Why do you play games with them!?"

The laugh comes from deep within his chest, and he revels in how easy the humor comes now, with her. "It's not like John will let me just walk away," he points out. "Oh, I also still have your burned footstool. And that disgusting stuffed animal you're so attached to."

She smashes her lips to his. "Mm," he moans into her mouth, letting her tongue dominate.

"So fucking sweet," she mumbles.

"You will not use sweet to describe me," he orders.

"Fat chance getting me to listen."

With a wolfish grin he climbs on the counter with her, soft side gone. "I have a few hours to try."

* * *

><p>Four scratches his head and scuffs the floor. Should he? Any other person and he wouldn't be having these doubts - but Eric? Eric has never shown insecurities, but just within the past day... Heaving a sigh, he knocks on the door. The raps crack in the dark, silent compound. The Abnegation in him will beat him with guilt if he doesn't do this. No one answers the door, but he hears the faint sound of Eric telling someone to be quiet, and then rustling clothes. Four knocks again, louder.<p>

A few curses accompany footsteps. The door cracks open to reveal a shirtless and probably pants-less Eric half-hiding behind the door. "What, Four?" he snaps.

"Are you busy?"

"It's four fucking a.m."

"It's about earlier today, er, yesterday. You tried to ask me something?"

He rolls his eyes. "It was just about rankings. But we can figure that out tomorrow, can't we?"

Four's eyes widen. "Is that blood on your face?" Dark flecks spot his face, dried to the skin like tiny moles.

Eric wipes his face with a hand and looks at it. "I don't see anything."

"It's dried."

"I think I'd know if I had dried blood on my face." _Crash._ Eric swears and palms his face.

Four just blinks. His face heats up at the thought of having interrupted Eric and a girl, but then his thoughts take a darker route that can only come from witnessing the absolute worst of Eric's cruelty. "Who are you hurting in there?" Telling someone to be quiet, and the blood - Four's heart speeds up with rage.

Eric's hand drops and he looks incredulous. "I'm not hurting anyone - I'm the only one in here!" Four's eyes drop to a bloody stain on the floor, and when he glances to the kitchen counter just in view he sees Eric's discarded hand gun. "Four - what the hell are you doing!?"

Four pushes past him, head whipping around. "Who are you forcing to stay in here?" he demands.

"I'm not forcing - DON'T FUCKING GO IN THERE!" Eric shoves Four away from the door. Four turns around and pounds the leader across the face. Before Four can walk into the bedroom Eric recovers himself and tackles his rival. "Get out of my apartment!" he snarls. They hit the ground and struggle, Eric managing to get the upper hand by kneeing Four in the crotch. Eric then proceeds to punch him over and over. With a growl Four grabs a hefty book lying next to the couch and smashes it across Eric's jaw. He falls back, stars sparking in front of his eyes. "Fuck, Four!"

Four scrambles up and whips open the door. "Hurry - I can get you -," He halts.

"Uh... Hey, Four." He watches her, eyes wide. Zero slips around the bed and approaches him at a cautious pace, Eric's huge sweatshirt almost swallowing her whole. "Don't freak out."

"How...?"

"Promise you won't tell anyone?"

Four turns and runs. He skids out the door and down the hall, running as fast as he can to... somewhere. The dead have been raised. First his mother, now Zero... Was there a possibility that no one in this city ever really died? He presses the heels of his hands to his eyes. No, that's ridiculous. They just never died. _You won't tell anyone?_ Well... he's never questioned her before. Why start when she's supposedly dead?

* * *

><p>"What did you break in here? How could you have possibly made that much noise?" Eric asks, rubbing his jaw. Zero sheepishly looks at the fallen alarm clock.<p>

"I saw the paper under it..."

He covers his eyes with a hand. Yep, she's back. Shaking his head, he picks up the clock and places it back over the paper. Then he lays down with a shrug. "I mean, aside from freaking him out I don't think it'll have any major repercussions. If he says anything to anyone, I'll act like he's crazy. Simple."

Zero lies down beside him, curling up under his arm like a dog in a kennel. "Sorry," she mumbles. He turns so he's lying on top of her, arms protectively on either side of her head and lips firmly on hers. He doesn't say anything, just kisses her over and over.

Eventually, with only about an hour of sleep, the alarm clock wails through their peace. Eric pounds his fist down on it and returns to his holding her in his arms. "What's going on?" she asks, voice sleep-heavy.

"Training," he mutters. "Doesn't matter." Who cares about initiates when Zero just came back from the dead? He breathes in the smell of her hair and closes his eyes, ready to go back to bed with the world in his arms. But Zero's mind is on last night, and she knows she won't be able to go back to sleep.

"I think Four might miss you if you're not there. Your presence, I mean. I don't think he'll miss you."

He grumbles a few unintelligible syllables.

"We can't stay here forever." I have wolves to hunt, she thinks.

Eric heaves a sigh. "Fine." And then doesn't move.

"Eric."

"Mrm..." He leans over and kisses before getting up. Zero sits up too, grabbing her shirt, bra, and pants from the floor. When she looks back she sees Eric hesitating at the bedroom door.

"What?" she questions.

He licks his lips and shakes his head. "It's, uh, nothing."

"I'll be here when you come back," she promises. He nods and then goes to the bathroom. "With a few pelts to decorate your walls..." Before he comes back out, she's gone.


End file.
